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{
    "id": 1499741,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1499741/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 198,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Essentially, this Bill seeks to curb or regulate fundraising. However, the Senate Majority Leader has been greatly misunderstood. I listened to the Senate Minority Whip describing the intent of this Bill as that of being able to overly deal with any kind of donations or charitable deeds, especially in terms of money. I do not think that is what the Senate Majority Leader seeks to cure here because I do not think that the idea of this Bill is to attack, for instance, the charitable or non- profit organizations that we have in the country. I think the Senate Majority Leader is seeking to cure problems that we have seen of public leaders using the platforms of fundraising as a way of basically capturing the people and insincerely taking control of public discourse. That is a fundamental problem. To that extent, the Senate Majority Leader is right, because Chapter 6, Article 73 of the Constitution, which is what I think is the crust of the problem that the Senate Majority Leader seeks to solve, talks about responsibility of leadership. Madam Temporary Speaker, we have seen lack of responsibility by leadership where the political leadership, to be specific, has been irresponsible on issues of fundraising in the sense that the amounts of money that we see going to fundraising, cannot be explained by any means possible by the political class. This is the reality that the public is getting tired of that kind of behaviour. Secondly, we are seeing a pseudo-control where, when a politician contributes in different platforms or institutions, they take control of that institution completely. This is a reality that we must face as a country. This is why the Senate Majority Leader has come with this particular Bill. That is the reason I am taking you back to Article 73, under Chapter 6 of the Constitution, that talks about responsibility of leadership. It says – “(1) Authority assigned to a state officer, (a) is a public trust to be exercised in a manner that- (i) is consistent with the purposes and objects of this Constitution; (ii) demonstrates respect for the people; (iii) brings honour to the nation and dignity to the office; and (iv) promotes public confidence in the integrity of the office Madam Temporary Speaker, people have lost trust in public officers, particularly led by politicians. Politicians who will do harambees in different places have also lost respect for the people. In addition, the manner in which the acts of harambees are being exercised do not bring honour to the nation, integrity and dignity to the offices that we have. Madam, Speaker, what does this mean? If you read further that Article, sub-article (b), says- “Authority assigned to a state officer- (b) vests in the state officer the responsibility to serve the people, rather than the power to rule over them.” The political class are ruling over our people because of these harambee. They are not serving our people. So, this is a serious conversation that the Senate Majority Leader has brought in the House that must be addressed. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}